Looking for your next read? Need a gift for a booklover in your life? Just in time for the holidays, we\u2019ve compiled a list of nine great books by COM alums that were published this year. From one alum\u2019s accounts of his celebrity encounters, to a poignant novel about a Bengali family in New Jersey, to a true crime tale about a Cape Cod serial killer, there\u2019s something for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This New York Times <\/em>bestseller tells the life story of the little-known, but hugely influential hip-hop producer and drummer James DeWitt Yancey, or J Dilla, who died in 2006 at the age of 32 from a rare blood disease. Charnas, who conducted more than 150 interviews to write the book, takes readers from Yancey\u2019s days growing up in Detroit through his rise in the music industry, where he collaborated with artists including A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, Common and Erykah Badu. Charnas shows how Yancey\u2019s innovative beats and rhythms\u2014created with a drum machine\u2014have had a lasting impact on hip hop and pop music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Deb\u2019s poignant debut novel, set in the Bengali community in New Jersey, Shantanu Das finds an unfinished manuscript written by his deceased daughter Keya and her girlfriend in his attic. Regretful that he never accepted Keya after she came out, he teams up with his other estranged daughter, Mitali, to stage the play in an effort to repair his broken family and to honor Keya. Deb, a New York Times<\/em> reporter who is also the author of the memoir Missed Translations<\/em> <\/a>(HarperCollins, 2020), has crafted an endearing cast of characters in his first foray into fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Film industry reporter Schwartzel delves deep into how the United States and China have jockeyed for power and global influence through the movie business. He examines the tensions that have grown as China has become an important source of revenue for American films while it also builds its own robust film industry. Schwartzel\u2019s entertaining book is peppered with fascinating anecdotes, like one about a rewrite of World War Z <\/em>which eliminated a scene that implied the film\u2019s zombie outbreak originated in China. Each detail sheds light on this international battle for cultural supremacy. (Read more in Bostonia<\/em>\u2019s feature about the book)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Best-selling true crime author Sherman grew up on Cape Cod, where his latest page turner is set. Helltown<\/em> tells the story of serial killer Antone Costa, an enigmatic figure who led a counterculture movement in the late 1960s in Provincetown, Mass., and killed four women in 1968 and 1969. Sherman also tells the compelling related story of how Cape Cod residents\u2014and literary rivals\u2014Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer were fascinated with the Costa case and raced to use it as inspiration for their next work. Sherman told Bostonia<\/a><\/em> that he wanted to write the book to \u201cexamine the culture of toxic masculinity and systemic misogyny that dominated the time, and continues to shape our attitudes toward violence, especially against women, today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Puschak is the creator of the popular YouTube channel NerdWriter<\/a><\/em>, where he posts \u201cvideo essays\u201d analyzing a wide range of topics, like whether the film Reservoir Dogs<\/em> has aged well, how Fleetwood Mac created the song \u201cDreams\u201d or how Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders answer questions. Now, he\u2019s written a book of essays in which he muses on an equally diverse set of matters\u2014all bound by a common thread of exploring what meaning is and how we make it. There\u2019s even a piece about discovering a book of Ralph Waldo Emerson\u2019s essays at the BU bookstore, a formative moment that inspired his own work today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA coyote contemplates the cosmos at the Grand Canyon.\u201d \u201cA jackrabbit jams at Joshua Tree.\u201d This fun, alliterative picture book takes young readers on a tour of America\u2019s national parks. Illustrator D\u2019Angelo, who told Bostonia<\/a> <\/em>he created the book to inspire children \u201cto become more active and engaged with nature and then to be inspired to preserve those environments,\u201d has captured the unique wonders of various national parks in the book\u2019s alphabetical entries. D\u2019Angelo\u2019s whimsical illustrations capture the diverse beauty and fun that can be found at each park.<\/p>\n\n\n\nKeya Das\u2019s Second Act<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>(Simon & Schuster, 2022)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
By Sopan Deb (\u201910)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>(Penguin Press, 2022) <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
By Erich Schwartzel (\u201909)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Helltown: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod<\/em><\/strong> (Sourcebooks, 2022) <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
By Casey Sherman (\u201993)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Escape into Meaning: Essays on Superman, Public Benches, and Other Obsessions<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>(Atria Books, 2022) <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
By Evan Puschak (\u201910)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
National Parks A to Z <\/em><\/strong>(Mountaineers Books, 2022) <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
By Gus D\u2019Angelo (\u201985)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>(Crown, 2022)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Featuring Catherine Burns (\u201991) and Sarah Austin Jenness (\u201900) <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n